Soul and body in madness

John attributed madness as being due to a disordered body (Laffey, 473).  Then the madness affects the soul, he says in a sermon.  "Suppose a soul, however holy, [is] to dwell in a distempered body; suppose the brain be so thoroughly disordered as that raging madness follows; will not all the thoughts be wild and disconnected, as long as that disorder continues?" (Wesley, Sermons, vol. 2, semon 41, 129.) 

 John always looked for a spiritual cause for distraught behavior before conceding madness.  He felt that often these manifestions of "mere" madness were spiritual issues, rather than just a physical ones (Laffey, 470).  Remember, this is before Sigmund Freud and the idea of the unconcious affecting behavior.  But when John could find no spiritual cause, he then conceded physical mental illness.  For spiritual issues, he prescribed prayer and faith.  For madness, he prescribed physic directed at the body (Laffey, 474).

Yet using the "treatment" of faith was not infallible: "... faith does not overturn the course of nature: natural causes still produce natural effects. Faith no more hinders the 'sinking of the spirits' [biological depression] ... than the rising of the pulse in a fever." (Wesley, Sermons, vol. 2, semon 47, 227.)

For modern riffs on the subject of spirituality affecting mental illness, I recommend two easy resources.  (Until recently, I was a psych nurse for seven years.)  For help for yourself and others with mental illness, I would highly recommend the book Why Do Christians Shoot Their Wounded?: Helping (Not Hurting) Those with Emotional Difficulties, as the way to view emotional illness with spiritual eyes.  For a Christian comedian's perspective on her own depression and antidepressants, especially the belief if that if one has enough faith one can beat depression, see (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pn5NZY_fQk), or any of Chonda Pierce's clips about depression.